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The 'Bull Ring' is a commercial area of Birmingham, England. It has been an important feature of Birmingham since the Middle Ages, when its market was first held. It has been developed into a shopping centre twice; first in the 1960s, and then in the 2000s.
The site is located on the edge of the sandstone city ridge which results in the steep gradient towards Digbeth. The slope drops approximately 15 metres from New Street to St Martin's Church^[1].

Contents

History

Markets in the Bull Ring

Archaeology on the site

Etymology

The first Birmingham Bull Ring Centre

Redevelopment of the Bull Ring

Early proposals

Successful proposal

Construction and opening

Design and layout

Artwork

Rotunda

Bullring's first year

References

External links

History

The market legally began in the year 1154 when Peter de Bermingham, a local landowner, obtained a Charter of Marketing Rights from King Henry II. Initially, a textile trade began developing in the area and it was first mentioned in 1232 in a document, in which one merchant is described as a business partner to William de Bermingham and being in the ownership of four weavers, a smith, a tailor and a purveyor. Seven years later, another document described another mercer in the area. Within the next ten years, the area developed into a leading market town and a major cloth trade was established.
The name, Mercer Street, is first mentioned in the Survey of Birmingham of 1553. This was a result of the prominence of the area in the cloth trade. In the 1500s and 1600s, Mercer Street rapidly developed and became cramped. Mercer Street had become known as Spicer Street in the early 1700s and by the end of the century, had developed into Spiceal Street. The result of this name was due to the growing grocery and meat trade on the street which had began to take over the cloth trade. Despite being overcrowded and cramped, many houses on the street had gardens as indicated by an advertisement for a residential property in 1798. Houses were constructed close to St Martin's Church, eventually encircling it. These became known as the Roundabout Houses.⁴
On a map produced by Westley in 1731, other markets had developed nearby including food, cattle and corn markets with other markets located nearby on the High Street. This cornmarket was moved to the Corn Exchange on Carrs Lane in 1848. The Bull Ring developed into the main retail market area for Birmingham as the town grew into a modern industrial city.
The earliest known building for public meetings in the town which has any architectural record is the High Cross which stood within the Bull Ring. The last known construction work completed to it was in 1703 before being demolished in 1784. It was also known as the Old Cross as to disassociate itself from the Welch Cross. As well as this, it was also nicknamed the Butter Cross due to the farmwives selling dairy produce beneath the arches to the building.⁴
A series of events in Birmingham's political history saw the area become a popular meeting place for demonstrations and speeches among the working class leaders during the 1830s and 1840s.
In 1839, the Bull Ring became the location of the Bull Ring Riots which resulted in widespread vandalism and destruction of property. It prompted fears amongst the town's residents at the council's inability to prevent or control the riots and led to speculation that the council were tolerant of lawlessness.^[2]
The area, along with Smithfield and Digbeth, became the only place where fairs in the centre of Birmingham could be held in 1861 due to disorderly behaviour witnessed at the fairs. In 1875 all fairs were banned from the town.
The area around the market site developed and by the Victorian era, a large number of shops were operating there. Immigrants set up businesses such as flower-sellers and umbrella vendors. The Lord Nelson statue became the location for preaching and political protests. Well known preachers of the time were nicknamed ''Holy Joe'' and ''Jimmy Jesus''.

Markets in the Bull Ring

In the late 1700s, street commissioners were authorised to buy and demolish houses in the town centre including houses surrounding the Bull Ring and centre all market activity in the area. This was a result of new markets being established across the city in scattered locations creating severe congestion. Demolition of these properties began slowly however after the Act of 1801, the speed of demolition increased and by 1810, all properties in the area had been cleared as according to the 1810 Map of Birmingham by Kempson. During the clearance, small streets such as The Shambles, Cock (or Well) Street and Corn Cheaping, which had existed before the Bull Ring, were removed. The Shambles was originally a row of butcher's stores, situated close to the road leading from the location were bulls were slaughtered.⁴
There was a wide area fronting St Martin's Church and this was used as the market place for markets. It was decided by the Street Commissioners that a sheltered market hall was needed. They bought the market rights from the lord of the manor and by 1832, all properties on site had been purchased, with exception of two, the owners of which demanding a higher price. To fund the purchase of these properties, two buildings were constructed either side of the market hall and the leases sold at auction. Construction of the Market Hall, designed by Charles Edge (an architect of Birmingham Town Hall), began in February 1833. It was completed by Dewsbury and Walthews at a cost of £20,000 (£44,800 if the price of acquiring the land is included) and opened in February 12 1835 and contained 600 market stalls. The building was grand and the façade consisted of stone mined from Bath in Somerset. Two grand Doric columns were used supports for both wide entrances. At the end of the market day, metal gates were pulled in front of the entrances.
In the centre of the 365 foot long, 180 foot wide and 60 foot tall hall was an ornate bronze fountain, given by the Street Commissioners upon their retirement in 1851. The base was made from Yorkshire sandstone and was 460 cm in diameter. It was in the form of a Greek tazza and cost £900. On the inside of the bowl were eight lions' heads from which water was ejected. The entire fountain was 640 cm tall and in the centre was a 150 cm tall statue called the Messenger and Sons. The statue consisted of four children representative of each of Birmingham's main four industries; gun making, glass-blowing, bronzing and engineering. The fountain was inaugurated by the Chairman of the Market Committee, John Cadbury on December 24, 1851. The fountain was removed in 1880 with the intention of re-erecting it in Highgate Park later that year but this did not happen and it was destroyed in 1923.^[3]
Gas lighting was introduced to the building which extended the business hours for the market. Installations to the market hall included a clock crafted by William Potts and Sons of Leeds which consisted of figures of Guy, Earl of Warwick, the Countess, a retainer and a Saracen. It was moved from the Imperial Arcade at Dale End to the market hall in 1936 however this was destroyed, along with the rest of the Market Hall, on August 25 1940 by an incendiary attack. Enquiries into the market hall found that pickpocketing was commonplace in the building.
In 1869, the fish market was completed on the site of the Nelson Hotel (formerly the Dog Inn). The Dog Inn was located at the top end of Spiceal Street and the land above was owned by the Cowper family. The fish market was built upon Cowper Street, which was named after the Cowper family, on Summer Lane. In 1884, a sheltered vegetable market in Jamaica Row was also completed.
The trade of horses prospered in the area with over 3,000 horses for sale at its peak during the 1880s. However this fell into rapid decline with the last horse trading fair taking place in 1911 with only eleven horses and one donkey in attendance.
A large amount of the area survived World War II however nearby New Street was heavily bombed. Shops sold tax-free products to encourage shoppers to buy them as it was difficult for the public to buy goods even a decade after the end of the war. Woolworths set up on Spiceal Street in the Bull Ring and became a popular shop, becoming the largest store on the street. The old Market Hall remained as an empty shell and was used for small exhibitions and open markets. No repair work was conducted on the building and the arches which housed the windows were bricked up.

Archaeology on the site

As the redevelopment of 2000 began, archaeological excavations were conducted on the site. Finds dated back to the 12th century with a ditch being discovered on where the Selfridges store and Park Street carpark are now situated. Archaeologists discovered that this was a boundary that separated houses from a deer park located on an area covered by Moor Street Station. Rubbish which had been disposed of in the ditch had been discovered too including the fragments of misfired pottery with criss-cross patterns. This indicated that pottery kilns had been located there in the 13th century. Many leather tanning pits dating to the 17th and 18th centuries were found on the Park Street car park site. These contained fragments of crucibles, pottery vessels in which metal was melted. The residues in these were alloys of copper with zinc, lead and tin.
On the site where the Indoor Markets are now located, archaeologists again discovered leather tanning pits dating from the 13th century.
Burials had also been discovered in the churchyard of St Martin's dating to the 18th and 19th century. Records of families were used to identify the bodies.
Four information panels providing information on the discoveries and history of the site are located in the Bullring at St Martin's Square, Edgbaston Street, Park Street and High Street.

Etymology

The area was first known as Corn Cheaping in reference to the corn market on the site. The name Bull Ring referred to the green within Corn Cheaping which was used for bullbaiting. The 'ring' was a hoop of iron in Corn Cheaping to which bulls were tied for baiting before slaughter.^[4] The joining of the two words in the 21st century development of the area to form Bullring caused controversy amongst some residents and other people who were angry at the change of what was described as an "historic spelling."^[5]

The first Birmingham Bull Ring Centre

In 1955, shops began to close down as the redevelopment of the area was proposed. Plans drawn up showed the creation of new roads and the demolition of old ones and all the buildings on the proposed site. Eleven companies submitted plans for the new Bull Ring however, Birmingham City Council elected to go for Laing's proposal which used substantial material from designs by James A. Roberts. Demolition began in the late 1950s beginning with the demolition of the old fish market. Construction commenced in the summer of 1961.
The outdoor market area was opened in June 1962 with 150 stalls within the new Bull Ring, which was still under construction. The demolition of the old Market Hall began in 1963.
In 1964 construction of the 'new' Birmingham Bull Ring Centre neared completion. It was a mixture of traditional open-air market stalls and a new indoor shopping centre, the first indoor city-centre shopping centre in the UK¹. It was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip alongside Alderman Frank Price and Sir Herbert Manzoni on May 29, 1964 and had cost an estimated £8 million. The shopping centre covered 23 acres and had 350,000 sq feet of retail trade area. Shortly after opening, the complex was visited by Queen Elizabeth II.
The market area was submerged and had approximately 150 stalls with the majority selling food. It was split by a large road which connected to the inner ring road which was built from 1967 till 1971. There was direct access to New Street Station and the market area could be easily accessed from Moor Street Station. A multi-storey car park was also located within the complex with 500 spaces for cars. Access to roads by foot could be achieved through a network of subways.
Jamaica Row and Spiceal Street had been demolished and removed during the development, being replaced by a submerged market area.
There were 140 shop units located on 350,000 square feet of room on a four acre site. There was also 19 escalators, 40 lifts, 96 public doors, six miles of air ducting and 33 miles of pipe work^[6]. The designers had designed the shopping centre to have air conditioning and had music to be played to create an intimate atmosphere within the building.
Near New Street Station was the Old Market Hall which had been destroyed by fire. This had been left derelict for years before being demolished in 1962 and replaced by Manzoni Gardens; an open space designed for shoppers to relax.
A mural of a bull was located on the side of the building as visitors entered via the road splitting the market area.
However, the 1960s Bull Ring Centre had problems from the outset and was very much a product of its time. At the time of its opening it was considered the height of modernity however higher rentals within the shopping centre meant that traders turned away from it. The public were also less inclined to use the subways and escalators, which stopped working regularly. Also, it did not age well and soon became generally regarded as an unfortunate example of 1960s Brutalist architecture, with its boxy grey concrete design and its isolation within ringroads connected only by dangerous subways. It was, in later days, much disliked by the public.

Redevelopment of the Bull Ring

Early proposals

Plans for redevelopments began in the 1980s with many being just visions. In 1987, the first serious plans were released under a document called "''The People's Plan''" which had been designed by Chapman Taylor Architects for London and Edinburgh Trust, who had bought the land following the end of Laing's lease. It proposed the full demolition of the Bull Ring Shopping Centre and the construction of a new mall described as "a huge aircraft-carrier settled on the streetscape of the city". The mall was a 500 metre long box with three floors.
A pressure group called "''Birmingham for People''" was formed who wanted to aid the redevelopment of the Bull Ring. They distributed leaflets of the proposals to 44,000 homes in the city. However, as a result of local opinion, LET were forced to change their proposals.
In 1988, in response to the calls for a new design, LET released a masterplan of numerous buildings with a wide pedestrianised street leading to St Martin's Church. As part of the design, two high rise buildings of a similar height to the Rotunda were proposed to front New Street Station and Moor Street Station. However, lack of local support failed to allow the plans to materialise.¹
In 1995, LET again amended their designs through work with the public. However, retail recession meant that the plans could not begin construction and they never developed.^[7]

Successful proposal

After the failure of the LET plan, new plans began to surface. In the mid-1990s, another serious proposal was produced and this gained support resulting in the publication of a masterplan. However, soon after the publication of the masterplan, changes were made to the design. In 1998, Selfridges voiced reservations about opening a store in Birmingham due to restrictions on doing so and considered opening a store in Glasgow instead.^[8]

Construction and opening

The 1960s Bull Ring Shopping Centre was demolished in 2000 with the traders moving to the Rag Market in Edgbaston Street. It was replaced by a new design, mixing both traditional market activity with modern retail units. The first building to be completed was the Nationwide Building Society which, while not directly connected to the shopping centre, was part of the development. A new indoor shopping centre, "Bullring" (as the commercial entity is branded) opened on September 4 2003.^[9]
The first week saw the shopping centre under considerable pressure due to the large crowds it attracted. On September 4, 2003, the day of opening, 276,600 people visited the shopping centre.^[10]

Design and layout

It features a dramatic new landmark building, housing a branch of Selfridges department store. The latter is a novel, futuristic design from the Future Systems architectural practice, clad in 15,000 shiny aluminium discs^[11], inspired by a Paco Rabanne sequinned dress^[12]. The Selfridges store cost £60 million and the contractor was Laing O'Rourke. Covering an area of 25,000 m², the designs for the Selfridges store were first unveiled in 1999, not long before demolition of the original shopping centre began. The Selfridges store has won eight awards including the RIBA Award for Architecture 2004 and Destination of the Year Retail Week Awards 2004.^[13]
The shopping centre is comprised of two main buildings (East and West Mall) which are connected by an underground passage lined with shops and is also accessible from St Martin's Square via glass doors. The two malls are different internally in design. The balustrades in the East Mall consist of integrated glass 'jewels' within the metal framework, and are of different colours formed through polyester powder coating.^[14] Touchscreen computers, developed by Calm Digital^[15], are located throughout the building which allow a user to search for the location of a certain store or browse a map of the building.
The entire redevelopment was accompanied by an official project magazine and then commemorated with an 'art book' style book which covered the Bullring's transformation in illustration and photography. Both book and magazine were produced by specialist publisher Alma Media International ^[16] on behalf of the developers.
The doors to both wings from New Street can be removed when crowds get large and queues develop at the doors. This feature also allows cars which are often on display to be driven into the building.
It is part of the Birmingham redevelopment plan. The centre contains the second of only nine Apple Stores to be opened in the UK, and a large Dixons store, originally opened as Dixons XL, and rebranded as Currys.''digital'' in 2006 along with the rest of the chain. The Dixons store has had disappointing sales and a section of the store which has been used predominantly for the sales of video games and games consoles has now been closed to the public. A number of shop units have also closed down due to the collapse of their national retail chains, including shops such as Nike, Elle, The Gadget Shop and Music Zone.^{[17] [18]}
In 2004/2005 a small café dubbed the Spiral Cafe, designed by Marks Barfield Architects, was constructed alongside the steps leading towards to New Street from St Martin's Square. The building's shape resembles that of shell and features a curved bronze roof with both ends covered with glass.^[19]
There is a car park on Park Street which is connected to the Selfridges store via a 37 metre long, curved, polycarbonate-covered footbridge ^[12], known as the Parametric Bridge^[21], suspended over the street. On the ground floor of the building is a modern furniture showroom.

Artwork

Numerous pieces of artwork are located in the grounds of the centre^[22]:

★ Three cube-shaped fountains of varying size are situated near St Martin's Church. These are illuminated in different colours at night.

★ A 120 m² glass mural by artist Martin Donlin faces the entrance to Birmingham New Street station.

★ Three ''light wand''s of varying height stand in Rotunda square near the entrances to both wings of the Bullring. The wands sway in the wind and reflective platforms which protrude from the main carbon fibre core reflect light to create a beacon effect. At night the cores are illuminated in the colours of the shafts which are blue, green and red.

★ At the entrance to the west building stands ''The Guardian'', a 2.2 m tall bronze sculpture of a turning bull. It was created by Laurence Broderick^[23] and has become a very popular photographic feature for visitors to Birmingham. The statue was vandalised in 2005^[24] requiring that it be removed for repairs, but was returned to its spot again later that year. The sculptor has given his support to calls for the statue to be renamed "Brummie the Bull".^[25] The sculpture was vandalised again in 2006.^[26]

★ Looking over St Martin's Square is the statue of Horatio Nelson. The bronze statue was the first public monument for Birmingham and was sculpted by Richard Westmacott. It is also the first figurative memorial to Lord Nelson to be erected in Great Britain (only second in the world after Montreal) and was unveiled on 25th October 1809, as part of George III's Golden Jubilee celebrations. It was originally located on the edge of the previous Bull Ring and stood on a marble base, but this was damaged when the statue was moved in 1958 and the current Portland stone plinth dates from 1960. As part of the Bullring development, the developer agreed to restore the statue and railings, but in 2003 when the Bullring opened, there was no sign of the railings. The Birmingham Civic Society mounted a campaign to get the railings re-instated, whilst Bullring argued they were a health & safety risk and would destroy the openness of the public space. However, the railing were re-instated in September 2005, just in time for the bi-centenary celebrations of the Battle of Trafalgar.

★ As Christmas approaches, a silver-coloured structure is erected in St Martin's Square which resembles a stylised Christmas tree. Large chrome balls hang within the conical shaped structure which is adorned in chrome stars. Large 3-dimensional stars hang between both buildings. Both the stars and chrome sculpture are illuminated at night.

Rotunda

A part of the James A. Roberts design for the first Bull Ring Shopping Centre included a 12 storey circular office block. However, upon revising his design this was increased to 25 storeys. As a result of this, plans for a rooftop restaurant and a cinema were dropped. This became the Rotunda and is a surviving component of the 1960s development.
It which is currently being converted into apartments by developers Urban Splash. Although being located close to the development and constructed at the same time as the 1960s centre, it was not part of the development despite being included in the design. A poem is engraved into one of the stones in the wall of the Bullring dedicated to the Rotunda.
The public space to the front of both malls facing the High Street and New Street is named Rotunda Square after the building.

Bullring's first year

In its first year of service, 36.5 million visitors to the new Bullring were recorded, making it the most visited shopping centre outside the West End of London^[27]. This exceeded even the most optimistic predictions, and for the Bullring's supporters has justified the £530 million cost of building it. The new Bullring is now one of Europe's largest city centre shopping centres.
An advertising campaign operated during the year to attract visitors. The campaign consisted mainly of television advertisements which used the slogan; "Europe's shopping capital is no longer on the mainland."
Leaflets were handed to the public so that the managers of the shopping centre could hear of the views of the people who visit it.

References

1. Remaking Birmingham: The Visual Culture of Urban Regeneration, , , , Kennedy, Routledge Ltd., 2004,
2. Self-Help and Civic Culture: Citizenship in the Victorian Birmingham, Rodrick, Anne Baltz, , , Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2004,
3. Public Sculpture of Birmingham: Including Sutton Coldfield, Noszlopy, George Thomas, , , Liverpool University Press, 1998,
4. BGFL: John Morris Jones - The Centre of Birmingham
5. ''I'VE JUST TWO WORDS FOR IT!; Name change protest'' - Birmingham Evening Mail, August 29, 2003
6. The Modern City Revisited, Deckker, Thomas, , , Taylor & Francis, 2000,
7. Conservation and the City, Larkham, Peter J., , , Routledge, 1996,
8. Guy Jackson, ''Red tape means blue-chip store may abandon move to city'', The Independent, 19 June 1998, accessed 11 November 2006
9. ''New look for much maligned centre'' - icBirmingham, September 4, 2003 (Accessed March 17, 2007)
10. ''276,600 welcome the Bullring'' - icBirmingham, September 5, 2003 (Accessed March 17, 2007)
11. Selfridges at Future Systems, accessed 11 November 2006
12. Selfridges construction pdf
13. Future Systems Awards, accessed 11 November 2006
14. ''Perfect finish for Bullring balustrades'', Finishing, 01-SEP-03
15. Calm Digital: Birmingham Bull Ring
16. Alma Media
17. Anna Jeys, ''Bullring hit by burden of empty stores'', Birmingham Mail, 4 August 2006, accessed 11 November 2006
18. ''Music Zone closes Brum branch'' - Birmingham Post, January 26, 2007 (Accessed March 17, 2007)
19. Copper Development Association UK: Copper in Architecture Design Award - Spiral Cafe, St Martin's Square, Birmingham
20. Selfridges construction pdf
21. Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory: Projects: Parametric Bridge
22. BBC Birmingham: Art of the Bullring
23. ''Sculptor finally given plaque tribute'' - icBirmingham, September 14, 2004 (Accessed March 17, 2007)
24. ''Bully's put out of sight'' - Birmingham Mail, June 29, 2005 (Accessed March 17, 2007)
25. ''Bull's creator backs name campaign'', icbirmingham.co.uk, 6 November 2003, accessed 11 November 2006
26. ''Brum's bull in new vandal attack'' - Birmingham Mail, February 6, 2006 (Accessed March 17, 2007)
27. ''UK's busiest shopping centre'' - icBirmingham, September 3, 2004 (Accessed March 17, 2007)


★ The Bull Ring Centre'', Laing, , , Laing developers, 1960,

★ The Bull Ring remembered: the heart of Birmingham and market areas, Price, Victor J., , , Studley: Brewin, 1989,

★ "The Growth of the City", A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham, Stephens, W.B., , , , 1964,

★ A History of Birmingham, Upton, Chris, , , , 1993,

★ Brum and Brummies: Volume 2, Chinn, Carl, , , , 2001,

★ The Bull Ring, Birmingham, Baird, Patrick, , , Sutton Publishing, April 28 2004,

External links

★ Bullring shopping centre

★ Birmingham markets

★ Pogus Caesar's exhibition 'From Jamaica Row - Rebirth of the Bullring' - OOM Gallery Archive photographs of Bullring development 2000 - 2003

★ About the Bullring

★ The Bull Ring - Then and Now

★ 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the Bull Ring

★ Church of St Martin in the Bull Ring

★ Birmingham's Industrial History Website